Please Stay but Not Here
by allihavetodoisfall
Summary: Helen has a question. Nikola has an answer. Spoilers for Awakening.


Author's Notes: I'm up to 13,131 words and 40 pages of various unpublished Sanctuary fanfictions. This is another one. Also, I am no expert on wine and don't drink. Google is the expert. So blame Google for any inaccuracies.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sanctuary.

Summary: Helen has a question. Nikola has an answer.

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><p>Nikola Tesla, part vampire and all genius sat on a bench with bottle of wine in his hand. He stared up at what would have been a ceiling if it hadn't been lacking something to protect him from the drenching rain. Thunder boomed and rain fell, drenching his entire body. Lightning flashed, and Nikola felt a twinge of longing. He wasn't sure if he had gotten his electrical abilities back, and was loathe to try testing the lightning actively just now. he had other things on his mind; mainly what exactly he would be doing with his life once his welcome with Helen wore out.<p>

A cloud moved in front of the fascinating display of nature, and Nikola sighed in irritation. He took another drink of wine, only to see Helen Magnus herself standing across from him, though outside the circle of rain, arms crossed.

"I know you're not mortal anymore, but why risk pneumonia because of a thunderstorm?" she asked, looking at him through the near darkness.

Nikola smirked, but inwardly flinched at the mention of his ever _being _mortal. He looked at her over the rim of the bottle.

"Because I'll have you to take care of me, dear Helen."

He half expected her to start stuttering as she had in the tunnels, but was not disappointed when she did not. Instead, she moved to sit next to him. He made space for her and handed her the bottle of wine. She accepted it and took a sip.

"Allegro Moscato?"

"Mmm, not quite. Moscato D'Asti." He glanced at the label. It seemed to shine to him, even in the darkness.

She smiled. "You are the official wine connoisseur of the Sanctuary Network."

"Thank you. Always a pleasure." She handed the bottle back. He took another sip, reveling in the little differences that made Moscato D'Asti different from Allegro Moscato that he and perhaps only ten other people in the world could taste. "You know, I could always teach you to taste wine blind. Us, alone, you, blindfolded…"

He didn't even wince at her slap, but he could still hear her smile above the pouring rain. It sung to him better than electricity did.

"You know I can shoot you freely now?" her soaking hair was in her face now.

"Have I said thank you for that yet?" he asked abruptly, tucking her drenched hair behind her ear.

She touched his hand en route to taking the wine. "Not yet."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She took another sip. Moscato D'Asti indeed. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to sit here until I can get the courage to see if I'm still electrical. Then I'll go inside and take a shower. Then I'll-" he knew what she was asking, and didn't want to answer.

"I meant later."

"I don't know. Would you like to join me in my bedroom tonight? Or are you asking me out on a date?"

This time her punch did hurt. A little.

"I'm being serious Nikola!"

He met her eyes, but wasn't sure if she could see them.

"Sorry."

"Because if you need more ideas for world conquest, Henry's found an old copy of Global Domination that he's making more 'modern'." Helen teased. So much for being serious.

He gave her a halfhearted glare. "I don't need assistance from a video game."

"Is that what you still want to do?"

He pretended to muse on the subject for a moment. "Not really. Coming face to face with the woman who _did _all that kinda turns the whole prospect off for me."

He touched her cheek. "But you'll always be my queen."

She raised an eyebrow but didn't pull away. That singing smile appeared again. "I thought you wanted Afina to be your queen? Repopulate the race and all that."

"She's not _my _queen. She was just the queen." He wondered if Helen could hear the 'was' and 'just' and 'the' emphasized properly.

"Then that makes you my personal…mongrel king. The only one of his kind." He had stopped letting the mongrel bother him right after she had grabbed his hand. Helen leaned closer. And closer.

Nikola was just about to believe this was going to be the best three days in his entire life when he heard it. The telltale crackle. The smell. Time began to move in slow motion again.

He tossed the bottle away from them and shoved Helen under himself, ignoring her protest. Then there was the flash, accompanied by the teeth-rattling _boom _of thunder.

Nikola quelled the shout of pain that enveloped his body as the lightning struck his back. For a split second, his entire body was on fire. Electricity crackled in his fingertips once again. Then the heat vanished, leaving a slightly crispy Nikola on top of Helen. He closed his eyes and gasped, feeling the power of the lighting running through his body.

"Nikola?" Helen's voice dragged him from the call of the currents. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He mumbled.

"Get up." she said not unkindly. She gently pushed him up. His eyes opened.

"I don't think storms today are such a good idea right now." He said. "Let's go."

"_Let's._" Helen helped him up and retrieved the wine bottle. She nearly dragged him inside, safely away from the storm.

In the warmth of the sanctuary, Nikola revived, with the help of several swigs of the nearly empty wine bottle. He looked at the now-empty bottle with faint distaste.

"Wow."

"What?" she asked.

Nikola let a spark of electricity jump from his forefinger to his thumb.

She smiled, and Nikola could appreciate the full light of it.

"Now what?" he asked. "I'm wet, you're wet, and unlike me, you humans get sick so easily."

"I'm going to take a shower," Helen said. "_Alone, _Nikola."

He smirked and turned to go to his room. "The thought never crossed my mind."

Helen shook her head and headed up to her own room.

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><p>After a steaming hot shower and ten minutes with a blow dryer, Helen finally heard the telltale sound of her bedroom door's lock being unlocked and the door being opened. She sighed and thanked providence she had brought her change of clothes into the bathroom with her.<p>

She opened the door to see Nikola, dressed in _another _suit, sitting cross-legged on her bed.

"Helen, you should really get some new locks."

"And would they keep you out?" she retorted.

He smirked. "Never, my queen."

Helen sat next to the part-vampire, noticing he hadn't brought another bottle of wine with him.

"Back to before the lightning." Nikola said briskly. "I believe you were about to kiss me?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Helen silently thanked the hot shower for making her face flushed.

"Well, you were holding my hand and moving closer to me." Gently, he pressed his lips against hers. He broke away after a second. "And you called me your king." Another kiss. This one lasted just one second longer.

"Stay." She said after he pulled away. Nikola smirked and pulled her down to lie next to him. He kissed her forehead.

"Of course."

Helen shook her head. "No, I mean here. At the Sanctuary. Henry could use some help, and Will needs to start earning his keep, and I…"

"I what?" he teased. But he hadn't refused, which Helen took to be a good sign.

"I…wouldn't mind seeing you around either." She felt the blush that had nothing to do with the shower creeping onto her face again.

"Mmm. That sounds nice." he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Just until you find something you want to do. I mean, unless you really want to-" Nikola silenced her with another kiss.

"I want to." His eyes watched her lazily. Helen wondered if he would remember this in the morning.

"Will you?" she touched his cheek and his eyes closed.

"Uh-huh."

Helen began to speak again, but realized she would be speaking to deaf ears. So she followed Nikola into sleep, but not before putting his arm around her waist.

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